The Government’s recent demonetization action has spurred the digital payments sector in a massive way with sellers reaching out to wallet companies in order to immediately sign up to start accepting digital payments.

Owing to the surge in usage and demand, mobile wallet company FreeCharge has seen a 10X surge in the number of retail merchant sign-up queries, with most of the queries coming from grocery stores, pharmacies and food joints. The queries pertain to the sign-up process, documentation required to on-board, commercial arrangement etc.

“Merchant on-boarding with FreeCharge is as easy as creating an account on the FreeCharge App. Aligned with the government’s mission, FreeCharge’s team is committed to accelerate the retail merchant community’s digital payments journey.” Commenting on the recent developments, Mr. Govind Rajan, CEO, FreeCharge

The company is also not charging any commission or setup fee to merchants signing up to accept payments through FreeCharge.

This means that 100 percent of the payments made by users will be credited to the seller’s account. This represents an important and recurring saving for the merchants as credit card companies normally deduct two to four percent for each payment made through them. The zero fee offer is a special limited term offer for all new merchants who sign up with FreeCharge.

In addition, FreeCharge also rolled out a faster, instant sign-up for merchants, which can be completed within five minutes. Post the sign-up, merchants will be able to immediately start accepting digital payments by using their smart phones.

Unlike in the case of debit and credit cards, no separate machine needs to be installed for FreeCharge as all transactions happen through the merchant’s existing smartphone. This will save at least Rs. 10,000 for the merchants in the initial set up cost as no deposits etc are required.

With zero percent commission, five minute merchant sign ups and 10 second user payments, FreeCharge is changing the digital payments landscape across the country.